Rails: update_attributes does not update any other existing instances referring to the same model instance

Question

I realised the following:

  user1 = User.create - creates a model with id 1 and age  is 0

  same_user = User.find(1)

  same_user.update_attributes(:age => 18)

  p same_user.age # prints out 18
  p user1.age # prints out 0

Why doesnt the existing attribute obtain values from the database?

Answer 1

You need to reload your user. Because it's attributes are saved in memory while they are changed in the databse.

p same_user.age
p user1.reload.age